Friday, August 31, 2007

Nothing like following up the worst performance of the year with the best performance of the year.

July and August have been two months where I actually played less in terms of hours and number of hands. I took a few shots at higher levels and didn't do so well which brought my July profit to only $400+.

If I just look at the 2-4NL games that I most frequently play, my PT BB/100 was 5.57 in July and a very sizable 16.98 in August. I've read before that anywhere above 5 BB/100 is good so at least my performance is decent as is consistent (in terms of being at or above 5).

I don't know how much poker I'll play this weekend since I also have two fantasy football drafts this weekend.

So happy labor day weekend to all and have a safe and fun weekend. That's always +EV!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

I told myself I was going to bed earlier tonight. I was exhausted from staying up late on Tuesday night so I thought I'll play a few tourneys and if I bust out early, I'll just hit the sac. Being the tournament donk that I am, that's not such an unreasonable thought. Also, in order to get ready for the heads up challenge, I decided to play a few HU SNG's. The first one I saw was a $10+.75 buy in, 4 person HU SNG. I won both matches to take home the $40 first place prize so I thought that this was a good start.

Then Matt saw me crush that competition so he decided to challenge me for a $5 HU match. In the end, he was no match my luckboxery and I thought that this might be a good sign for my upcoming 1st round match with WillWonka. And boy, I had no idea. Since WillWonka had cash in UB (or so he thought), and since UB has the "challenge opponent" feature, we decided to play there. I have about $180 sitting in UB so it was no problem for me. We decided to play the $5 regular HU SNG (no turbo). Well, initially, since I was too stupid to figure out the "challenge" feature on UB, I just put myself on the waiting list and low and behold, I find myself sitting and playing a HU match against a random UB player. Finally, my match with WillWonka started as well... and all this while the Mookie and the Fifty-Fifty were going on. Let me tell you. 4 tabling, 2 of which are HU matches are insanely difficult.

But, luck would be on my side tonight. I beat the random UB player and also won two straight matches against WillWonka to advance to the second round. I'm not sure who I'm playing against next and I'm too lazy to check right now.

So, that would be 6 HU matches I played tonight (not 8 like I incorrectly told some people) and won all of them. But my luck wouldn't stop here...

I honestly don't know much about the Mookie except in the end, I busted out when my JJ couldn't hold up against AK or something like that... I think. It was a blur. Between the heads up matches and the Fifty-Fifty, I have to admit that my concentration was not there. That's really not my excuse. I just don't have any memorable hands or anything to report.

As for the Fifty-Fifty, my luckboxery way continued. I was getting paid off on some big hands and next thing I knew, I found myself in top 3 with about a third of the 1000+ field remaining. Then this hand came up that set me back a little.

Few orbits earlier, there was an exact same scenario except I limped from the SB when it was folded to me and he shoved and I folded. And so I felt that this was a perfect opportunity to spring the trap. And it was. Too bad FullTilt had other plans for me.

Around this time, I notice that my 3rd place spot was now occupied by another blogger. Yeah, that's right. Mike_Maloney was playing in the same tournament and next thing I know, he's got a huge stack. The money bubble came and went for both of us fairly quickly since we both had decent stacks. Well, he had a big stack... I had a passable stack. Fortunately for me, as my M dwindled down, I shoved with Q9 from the button, only to be called by both the SB and the BB. AJ and K10 were what they had. When it was all said and done, the 9 high board allowed me to triple up and make me healthy again.

At this point, Mike_Maloney and I had similar stacks and I actually had visions of a run similar to what Hoy and Iak had put together previous in this same tournament.

Honestly, when he bet out the 12,000, I felt that his hand wasn't so strong. Maybe even a draw. So, I thought that if I shove, I can get him to fold. And if not, there's also a chance that my hand was good. Unfortunately, I needed to improve...

And that, I didn't do... as such, this message pops up. As much as it hurt, I don't think I overplayed the hand. I mean if you just read the hand history, it might seem that way but I read his hand as being weak and so I went with it. And it was fairly weak. But not weak enough.

As I was typing up this blog, Mike_Maloney busted out as well. He came in 26th place, getting him $264 for his efforts. It was very fun to keep track of each other and making it deep in a big MTT like this one. I really wanted both of us to final table this but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

Oh... I also did play some cash games tonight and netted more money in less time than the 50-50. But I have to admit. That was fun. I'm gonna be dead tired tomorrow. Thanks again to all who stopped by. Good night now!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

First and foremost, go check out LJ's blog here. She (PvanHaribo) did it again. Not only did she come in 3rd in the 32k few weeks back for a nice score of $4000+, she came in 3rd when she played in the tournament this past weekend in Vegas for a nice score of $3k, and now, she came in 3rd AGAIN in the 32k for a nice score of $5,300+. She played real well even though I missed out on the final table action because I had to leave for the home game that is the PAPT. But go show her some love over at her blog. Just incredible.

Well, not to be outdone by LJ, I decided that I need to step up my game. So I did. By taking down the PAPT baby!!! That's right. A win. Not a 3rd place finish. Victory. 1st place. Numero uno. Beat out a tough, tough field of 11 players (what, LJ bested 282 players? whatever) to score a nice $160 win (what, LJ got $5,343? whatever). Seriously... I was gonna do a full recap on a night that saw Sia aka PouringReign come back to Richmond for a special appearance in the PAPT but after what LJ just accomplished, I feel silly even talking about it. Again, go show her some love. Very well deserved.

As for the PAPT, it was a lot of fun. 11 person 1 table sng sucks in the beginning but as usual, the action was fast and furious from the beginning. In the end, Sia played well enough to come in 3rd, while I was able to take down the whole thing fairly easily once it got heads up. It always helps when you get good cards. It was nice to have Sia back in town since he moved to Florida at the end of last year. Talking in person is generally better than girlychatting. Much like live poker is more fun than online.

Since I'm feeling lazy about my post today, I'll leave you with this. Since the heads up challenge is starting, I decided that maybe I'll practice a few rounds and so I signed up for a $10 HU SNG. Very first hand, this is what happened.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Ok so apparently, you can only claim DQB when you flop quads? That's just too much restriction, IMO. Well, here's another! Pretty much few hands after I stacked riceballs the first time, he falls victim to my DQB.

Funny thing is, I was kinda wary of this hand. I've been running so well so I feel like it's about time set over set happens. Honestly... So I thought maybe he might have TT (I'm assuming KK he reraises preflop). But I'm not gonna fold, obv...

*** TURN *** [Kh 4s Ts] [7c]RecessRampage checksriceballs bets $190RecessRampage raises to $781.20, and is all in riceballs calls $271.30, and is all inRecessRampage shows [4d 4c]riceballs shows [Td Kd] Uncalled bet of $319.90 returned to RecessRampage*** RIVER *** [Kh 4s Ts 7c] [4h] RecessRampage shows four of a kind, Foursriceballs shows two pair, Kings and TensRecessRampage wins the pot ($1,109.60) with four of a kind, Foursriceballs is sitting out

I did feel bad for riceballs.... literally... he shipped me over $900 in the course of like 10 minutes... Riceballs... that's kind of a funny name. Or maybe I just need to grow up.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

I have to admit... I've been getting pretty lucky this month. Not as many coolers or setup hands and when they do happen, they seem to happen against shorter stacks so it doesn't hurt quite as much. Still hurts to flop top 2 when someone flops the bottom set but what can you do? And again, the few times that that's happened, it's been against guys who buy in short so it doesn't hurt my roll as much and it's easier to bounce back. Another reason I'm getting pretty lucky is that the draws are missing the people who are chasing against me when I have a monster hand. Those are two good reasons why I'm doing well this month. And this illustrates that. But as always, I'll include my thoughts about why overbetting here is a must. I think this is fairly basic, in tournament or cash play.

Basically, if you are contending for the pot against two opponents but one of them is all in and you currently have the nuts on the board where two guys are drawing, you want to get all your money in play so that even if the short stack hits his draws, there will be a sizable side pot to make up for the loss. Now granted, if the other big stack hits, you lose your entire stack but keep in mind that by doing this, you're not up against the combined number of outs for both opponents but rather, you're setting up two separate pots, each with separate number of outs. What do I mean? Well, see below.

Very interesting table to start off here. It's rare that everyone limps like this and no one raises but I think one recent trend I've noticed is that when there's an UTG limper, people tend to be more careful with their raises because the whole "limp with AA or KK and then repop when a late position raises" move became so popular. So, I'm sitting in the SB with 8-10 which is in the same family of the hands I'm starting to really like (the one gappers) and I just have to call $2 more into a pot that contains $22 before I limp.

Very interesting flop. And very draw heavy. Two diamonds give someone a flush draw, I have the OESD, and yet it gets checked around to the button who bets $20 into a $24 pot. I'm not too crazy about chasing an OESD with two flush cards because more often than not, I could be drawing to 6 rather than 8 outs (the 2 cards that complete my straight could complete a flush for someone else). So I actually had to think about this call. Also keep in mind that someone else could be waiting to checkraise. With 6 people in the pot, that's not entirely impossible. But of course, I'm gonna want to see one more card. Folding here is not an option, IMO. I mean if it is, I wouldn't play 8-10 to begin with. Fortunately for me, the BB called as well, indicating he's got something or he's on a draw as well. And I say fortunate because no one checkraised. Now the pot is sweetened and it justifies my call.

The best card in the deck came. The nondiamond 6. I currently have the absolute nuts with a 10 high straight but now, there are two flush draws out there. Now it's very unlikely that someone has spades but it's starting to become pretty heavy. The shorter stack led out with an interesting mini-bet of $12 into $80+ pot. The button raises to $71 so he obviously likes his hand enough. At this point, I'm happy to take the hand down if need be but I also want to price out whatever draws that are out there. Also, if I just call here and the short stack calls and if he's on a diamond draw and hits, I'm gonna lose this pot. I'm not sure what sureshdb has but he obviously likes his hand enough so in case he's the one drawing to a flush, I want to price him out. If he has a hand, then I want him to like it enough to call my overbet. So, no brainer here, this is what I did.

RecessRampage raises to $340.65, and is all inrnmvsn calls $64.05, and is all insureshdb has 15 seconds left to actsureshdb has requested TIMEsureshdb calls $269.50RecessRampage shows [8h Ts]rnmvsn shows [Kd Qd]sureshdb shows [7c 7h]

Now notice here that there are two things I accomplished. One was that I got everyone's money in the pot with the best hand. But more importantly, I generated a side pot that would be large enough to withstand the loss of the main pot. And in effect, instead of fighting against two opponents, I am now fighting against one opponent for two different pots. Let me clarify that. If the three of us all had the same starting stack and so we all went in, then I would only be a 59.5% favorite. See below.

However, by shoving and creating two separate pots, this is what I ended up doing. Let's say that in the above example, I know that there's a flush draw and a boat draw (someone has trips). Now I don't know which one but let's just say one has one and the other has the... other. Yes, sometimes I astonish myself with how eloquent I am. There! There's a big word! Ok, I digress. So, as you saw above, combined, I'm only a 60% favorite. But, by isolating, even though for the main pot, I am still only a 60% favorite, I created a side pot where I am now at least a 77% favorite. That's an increase of 17% chance that I win. Pretty significant boost. The two pictures below show my chances of winning against each individual draws.

As you can see, if the bigger stack had a flush draw, I'm an 80% favorite to win the side pot. If he's on a boat draw, I'm a 77% favorite. Either way, I created somewhat of an "insurance" by shoving there and making the bigger stack commit and create a side pot. Even if I lose the virtual coin flip, I will now have a much better chance of taking down the sizable side pot. Well, this is what ended up happening.

*** RIVER *** [4s 9d 7d 6s] [Kh]RecessRampage shows a straight, Ten highsureshdb shows three of a kind, SevensRecessRampage wins the side pot ($529.20) with a straight, Ten highrnmvsn shows a pair of KingsRecessRampage wins the main pot ($309) with a straight, Ten highrnmvsn is sitting out

Thursday, August 23, 2007

The other day, my friend PouringReign and I were having a discussion on the girlychat regarding an sng he was playing and how there was a raise preflop and he couldn't believe someone would call with 4-6, flop a pair and an OESD and go all in, of course to bust him. Well, the basic setting was that he raised, there was another caller and the guy called from the BB. So, I said that that's not so ridiculous because he already had money in the pot and with two other players, it was a loose but not an insane call. Well, PR, here it is bro. This HH came up today and made me think of that discussion.

Ok, so this might be an instance where it's more of a no brainer to call but I will admit. Last year, I fold this here. Cuz I was a tight nit donk. Now, I don't even think twice about calling. I'm in the BB, 4 other players, $8 more for me to call. No brainer.

*** FLOP *** [4s 2s 6d]RecessRampage checksTheJamo bets $36Shipitoverhere calls $36ArkieBassMan foldspokercomic foldsRecessRampage raises to $280.90, and is all inTheJamo has 15 seconds left to actTheJamo: what the hell??TheJamo foldspokercomic: spadesShipitoverhere has 15 seconds left to actShipitoverhere has requested TIMEShipitoverhere foldsUncalled bet of $244.90 returned to RecessRampageRecessRampage mucksRecessRampage wins the pot ($167)

This is where I guess I made the mistake. I honestly thought that I would get one of them to call with this ridiculous overbet for value. Well, the thing was, I was already pot committed here considering my stack size and the pot size. There's approximately $130 in the pot before my bet and so one thought was to smooth call and build the pot. But with two spades, I wanted to bet enough to make it incorrect for them to call. Plus, if someone had an overpair, I wanted my shove to look like I was pushing with maybe two overs and a spade draw like pokercomic thought (btw, he has no business commenting during the hand esp if he's not in it). If I could get a call and win the pot, this woulda made a nice "overbet for value" post. But I'm perfectly ok with taking the pot down here instead of turning this into "Fuel's flopped straights are no good" post.

On a different note, I'm considering killing my RecessRampage account. I've tried a few times to get rakeback for my account but to no avail. I got the same response like NewinNov posted here. And based on a rakeback calculator at one of the sites, based on the amount I play and the stakes I play, I should be getting at least $350 each month in rakebacks. It kinda sucks because I've come to really like my account and since I really suck at coming up with names (whether it be the blog address, screenname, etc), my new challenge would be to figure out what the new name would be. But I think I could suck it up for an extra $350 each month. I don't know when I will do it... probably as soon as I can think of a name a new name. I'd like to start September with a new screenname... any suggestions are welcome.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

This was an interesting hand that came up. Early in the session, this hand came up. Some may argue that I should c-bet the flop here but I don't really like making useless c-bets against multiple players. Maybe that's a weakness in my game but it's one that I morphed into when my frequent c-bets started getting check raised more often than I won.

So to set the setting here for those of you that sometimes have a hard time picturing the position, etc based on these HH, UTG limps, MP limps, I raise and the BB, and the two limpers call my raise. The good news is, I have position. Bad news is, we're going to see the flop 4 handed.

This is what I'm curious about. Would you throw out a c-bet here? I think a lot of people would, justifying that they are a) throwing out a c-bet to try to take it down here and b) betting for information. Personally, I'm not a big fan of that in a 4 handed pot. It's one thing if we were heads up. Now granted, if I bet and get check raised, it will only cost me the bet I throw out there but that could get fairly pricy. So, I checked here.

2nd round of checks but with another 7 coming on the board, I have no reason to bet now and at this point, I've all but given up on making a play. Betting out here will make no sense since it would be obvious to all that the 7 clearly didn't help me.

Now this is where it gets interesting. I finally catch my card that I've been wanting. And yet the moment that card comes out, the BB makes a pot sized bet. Keep in mind that I was the original raiser AND there are 3 others to go in this hand from the BB's perspective and yet he's making a pot sized bet? That to me screams of a monster (can you say presto?). Now granted, I don't know anything about this guy so he could be betting with an ace. But at this point, why make a pot sized bet when the one card that is likely to help someone hits? If he has AK, I'm beaten (and I shoulda thrown out a c-bet on the flop). But his play would seem consistent if he had 55 as well. At this point, there aren't too many hands my AQ can beat so, this is what I ended up doing.

RecessRampage foldsUncalled bet of $135 returned to chipwizard1chipwizard1 muckschipwizard1 wins the pot ($132)

Personally, I think it's a good fold. Again, one can argue that I shoulda bet on the flop but I stand against my decision on that one as well. I think there's a time and a place for continuation bets and blindly firing out bets "for information" is actually a leak more often than not, IMO. Any thoughts?

So far, quite a few comments came, regarding my post from yesterday. So, I figured, there are few things that maybe I would point out to you here. For me to pull the move on the river that I did, so many things had to be in place and in that hand, they were. This is a little more than I usually like sharing in terms of my thought process through a hand but it's been an interesting exercise for me too so here goes.

A) The river bet had to be enough to make an impact. In other words, if I made a bet of about $300, he definitely would've called with QQ, just from a sheer pot odds perspective.

B) The villain had to be a good player who is capable of making that laydown. A lot of people seemed to not be able to believe someone would lay down QQ there.

C) The move I make had to be consistent with what I normally would do and had to be credible enough.

In order for point A) to happen, the pot size had to be managed. In other words, if anyone bet out on the turn, I wouldn't be putting this post because I would've folded. Either that or I make my move on the turn but most likely, I just fold on the turn. And, if I make the move on the turn, I get called and lose my money.

In order for point B) to happen, I had to know that the villain was a good player. For those that questioned someone tossing QQ there, ask yourself based on the sequence of things happening, what I can have that he beats. There's only one and that is AJ. And even then, an all in on the river makes no sense if I had TPTK. In other words, if you're a good player, your thought should be, why would someone risk all their chips if they already had a hand which conceivably could win at showdown? The answer is, you wouldn't. Unless it's a value bet. So the fact that I risked my entire chip stack which is only slightly less than the pot amount had to make him think that maybe I had a monster. Which is probably why he also wondered if I had a straight. But then he quickly mentioned in the chat box that the only thing that didn't make sense was the call on the flop. Unless I already had a set there. It would cost him a third of his stack to find out if I'm bluffing (which at this point, would be hard for him to figure out what I am bluffing with unless he knows that I'm capable of floating the flop bet). And realistically, what hand wouldn't have connected by the river that doesn't beat QQ?

I have been at the table and I was very loose to start with but tightened up and when there was a big pot brewing and I went to showdown, I had a good hand each time. So I had a solid image there. Villain was well aware of this. For sure. So, let's say he thought I had JJ. Well, he's beat. TT? I catch it on the river. 99 or 88? Why would I call the bet on the flop? 77? Set on the flop. Any pair lower than 7s (except 4s where I flop a set) also are gone in terms of my possible holdings because why would I call a decent sized bet on the flop with a pair lower than 2 of the 3 cards on the flop? For a two outer? In an instance where I could be already behind a set? In other words, there were so many hands that beat him and so few hands that he could beat at this point that if he was truly as good a player as I thought he was, he couldn't have called. The only argument one might make is that at the end, even with my all in, the pot odds was offering him 2 to 1 so that could have swayed him to call. Which is probably another thing that was on his mind.

But, that's if he had QQ. If he had 88 or something, he would've acted the exact same way I think so it's possible I had him beat from the beginning. Even though he said he folded QQ, he could be lying.

In terms of C) this is clearly what I would do if I had a set or if I caught a set on the river. I would've played TT exactly the same way. And JJ. Reason being that on the flop, basically, there were no draws. The moment I narrowed down the ranges of two other players, I knew that there were no realistic draws out there. And the pot is big enough that on the river, I'd shove with a monster and yet it won't even be "overbetting" because there's enough odds that any other player would've probably called me with QQ. Maybe even AJ. But I will say this. If you are truly a good player, usually, you're wary of calling a pot sized all in with just one pair. If your one pair is only good enough to beat TPTK, then all the more so.

And these are the reasons why I got away with that hand. And take this for what it's worth. No way I make that play against anyone but a select few that I peg could make that lay down. I'm not saying I outplayed him or anything. I just knew that he was the only guy capable of making that laydown there. Most other players, I would choose a different spot and wait till I have a big hand.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

The reason I would question this hand is because some (or most... or everyone) might think I have no business being in the hand by the time I pulled out a monster bluff on the river. But let me at least walk you through my thought process and you can tell me what you think...

Ok, preflop, I don't have any questions. But couple of things to note here. The villain is a VERY solid player, IMO. I've seen him conceal hands real well to get the most value and make nice moves. In other words, I was watching him closely and quite often, I wouldn't be able to put him on a hand. And when I did, I was wrong more than a few times. And personally, I think I have decent hand reading skills. So, that was enough to put me on alert. But, having said that, I wanted to be in a lot of hands that he was in because of his chip stack. He's one of the few guys I could double through.

Ok, so this is becoming a big pot. Personally, this is where things get interesting. Dajmipare hesitates and then bets. I thought that there was a good chance that indicated AK. Of course, you can question me here but his betting sequence and his hesitation as well as the fact that he only bet $138 into a pot that at this point had close to $200 seemed more like AK. AND more importantly, the fact that I sniffed that means that the Villain definitely had to sniff that out as well. The only thing I couldn't figure out is what hand range would he not raise with here? And what does he put me on? At the price that was being offered here where the pot had close to $480 that's about a 3-1 and I had to call. Why? Because I knew I had AK beat which is what I put the other guy on. The Villain was where I couldn't quite figure out. I could see him calling here with an inferior pocket pair or a hand like QQ. AA or KK and I'm sure he woulda repopped preflop. So, having thought all that, I made the call.

The check on the confirms that dajmipare had AK. He figured one or both of us had a pocket pair so him betting was no good here. Now my 9s look very vulnerable. I mean I can't beat AJ (which I don't think the villain would call a preflop reraise with), I can't beat AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 77, 66, or 44. So, the only reasonable holding here that I can beat are 88 and 55.

*** RIVER *** [7d Js 4h 6h] [Tc]Villain has 15 seconds left to actVillain checksRecessRampage has 15 seconds left to actRecessRampage has requested TIME

So the final card comes and my 9s go unimproved. This is an interesting situation but in my mind, the 10 falling on the river was really inconsequential. The reason being that I was already losing to TT so it's not like that hand did anything. The only reason I had to think real hard here was that I was afraid my 9s were no good. But there is no way the villain would not bet here if he had a set or better. So, based on that, he doesn't have JJ, TT, 77, 66, or 44. I already ruled out AA or KK because based on my observations of him, I was SURE that he would repop preflop (if I'm wrong, I pay the price). So now, I felt that he either had 88 or 55 or QQ. Based on how he played his overpair before which made me think he was a good player by controlling the pot size, I really didn't want to have to showdown this hand. This pot was big enough, I felt that I needed to take one last stab at it. And if he didn't have a set, there's no way he can call this...

RecessRampage bets $542.75, and is all indajmipare folds Villain has 15 seconds left to actVillain foldsUncalled bet of $542.75 returned to RecessRampageRecessRampage mucksRecessRampage wins the pot ($618)

Villain later asks if I had AJ or a set. He told me that he had QQ. And that was the only way I could take that pot away from him.

I realize this was a very risky move... maybe even almost stupid, but I felt that at least my read was on and I really wanted to take this pot away from him. I am guessing most of you wouldn't be in the pot past the flop... but I hate giving up...

I'm not the type to play a certain type of hand the same way so I would obviously sometimes reraise here to isolate or price out the other limper in case he is trying to see a flop cheap with a small/mid pocket pair. However, the key here to do that when you know your opponents. In other words, there's not much value in doing something that you usually don't do against opponents that don't know you. In that case, you can play straightforward poker for a little while to establish your image. Well, I guess I was feeling frisky so I wanted to switch it up.

Personally, I'm not crazy about this flop. Bunch of mid/low cards. It's right up the alley of the limper in MP. I'm also not too crazy about the fact that the big stack bets out. Since I don't know anything about my opponents, I'd have to assume that he's got a big stack because he is better than others. Of course, maybe he got lucky but we don't know that at this point. So, I need to define my hand here.

RecessRampage raises to $70Jdiddy01 foldsRogueRaider has 15 seconds left to actRogueRaider raises to $258

This is where things get interesting. The big stack initially puts out a probe bet, I raise 3.5x his bet and now he comes over the top. At this point, you have to believe that you are behind with the QQ. How far behind? That's hard to tell because it's hard to see if he's overbetting for value with a set or a straight or now trying to protect his two pair? The only questionable thing is that he's the one who raised preflop from the SB so he could have AA-TT, of which I only beat two of them. And if he had JJ or TT, it's hard to see him come over the top here...

But as you can imagine, since this is the "learn from my mistakes" series, here's where I donk it up.

RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to actRecessRampage has requested TIMERecessRampage raises to $384, and is all in RogueRaider calls $126RecessRampage shows [Qc Qs]RogueRaider shows [5d 7d]

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

First of all, thank you for the well wishes. I am doing much better today. I'm hoping that by the end of the week, since I'll be home all day, I can pull a Jordan or LJ and score a nice tournament win... aaaah, one can dream.

Alright, well, this post also was supposed to come sooner but what with the "intestinal tilt" that I was on (coined by Pushmonkey, good one!), it took me a few days to get to it. Well, if you hadn't read it, it was about my hand deep in the 28k with about 21 players remaining. Click here for the original post. And tons of great comments came out of that and also made me see where I am still a tournament donk. Now, I don't mean that in a "it's so obvious" type of way even though for some, it may have been.

"Late in a tournament, with the blinds as high as they are, you generally have to be very suspect of people who raise instead of pushing when their M is only around 5."

That's a very good point. And in reviewing the hand, I totally agree. And here are my excuses for not seeing that. It was late in the tournament and I think my focus wasn't quite where it was. I was also getting excited with the prospect of final tabling this thing. And admittedly, after going a few orbits with absolute crap and getting shoved on any steal or resteal attempts, I was getting fairly impatient. When I saw JJ there, they looked golden. In other words, I was no longer at the top of my game. And in a NL tournament, one mistake could cost you. Just like it did me.

Another key thing is what LJ mentioned in her blog here. "sometimes you just have to lay down what might be the best hand." That's also an interesting mindset in that in the situation I was in, even if I had the best hand, it is almost for sure that the two others have overcards and unless they have the exact same hand, basically, they have 9 outs 5 times (any A, K, or Q). That's not a good situation for me and being that I had a decent stack, it's just another reason why I shoulda folded.

In reviewing everyone's comments, I can now honestly tell that that wasn't as tough a situation as I thought it was and for that, I thank everyone for making me see that. I will work on my tournament game in the next few days in between my naps that I'll be taking plenty of.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Last night, I ended up playing in a few tournaments which is unusual but based on the recent success that Lana had, I was inspired. So, of course, being the cash game guy that I am, I fired up a 2-4NL table and simultaneously started playing in the satellite for FTOPS event #3 and the token frenzy. Shortly thereafter, I saw Sia (PouringReign) and he mentioned that he was going to play in the 28k. I really didn't intend my session to be a long one but I thought, why the hell not. So I joined him at the 28k as well.

I donked out of the FTOPS 3 satellite but I felt good about my tournament game last night. One thing I really wanted to focus on was to play aggressive based on my reads and not based on my cards.

I know it's such a cliche about "cards don't matter" but when you look down at Q4o, even if you think your opponent is weak, it's sometimes hard to pull the trigger. Well, last night, I told myself that's what I'm gonna do and if I bust out that way, so be it. And surprisingly, I felt like I was clicking.

I ended up winning a token in the token frenzy and after that, I decided to really focus on the 28k as we entered hour #2. So I closed out the cash tables (where I managed to be up over a buy-in at 2-4NL) and just had the 28k open. And I have to hand it to myself. I played well. I stole here and there. I pulled a few resteals. Not enough to make people suspect it but just enough to keep my stack on pace with the escalating blinds.

Now, notice here that I have both of these players covered. The player from the CO is not unusually aggressive but at this stage, it was fairly common for the players to raise from late position. The pot before anyone enters the pot is already 10,000+ so with 60k in chips, I felt like I was at a point where adding this pot would be huge for my stack considering I was probably around 15th out of the remaining 22 players. So, I ended up shoving, trying to isolate the all-in. One funny thing though is that I for some reason felt like this might be a set up hand. I told my friend on girly chat "watch this. I have a feeling this might be a set up hand." And I did consider folding.

RecessRampage raises to 68,228, and is all inCaptJackDaniels calls 38,643, and is all inRecessRampage shows [Jh Jd]CaptJackDaniels shows [Kc Ks]slikcol shows [Qc Ah]Uncalled bet of 4,585 returned to RecessRampage*** FLOP *** [3h 8h 5s]*** TURN *** [3h 8h 5s] [7s]*** RIVER *** [3h 8h 5s 7s] [6s]RecessRampage shows a pair of JacksCaptJackDaniels shows a pair of KingsCaptJackDaniels wins the side pot (61,502) with a pair of Kingsslikcol shows Ace Queen highCaptJackDaniels wins the main pot (105,376) with a pair of Kingsslikcol stands up

That obviously crippled me and the very next hand, I busted out with K6 against the BB who had 34.

After 4 hrs, this is all I had to show for in this tournament. Man, over 1300 runners, 21st place and only $140 for my efforts. Tournaments are tough. Thanks to Lana, Bayne, and Sia for railing me.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Wow... I have so much to go over. And yet I know I won't have time to cover everything. So, first off, let me get all the important stuff out of the way. Congrats again to PvanHaribo (LJ/Lana) for coming in 3rd in the 32k that she satellited into with $8.80 and turned it into $4,700+. Too funny considering just the day before, she was talking about how she needed to build her online roll and so she was playing in $2 sng... amazing how quickly things change.

Next, I know none of these guys are probably happy where they ended up but they all did cash in the FTOPS #1 event. And yes, I know that there's no glory in cashing for these guys but hey, something is better than nothing. So, please go congratulate Julius_Goat, Hoy, and Cmitch.

Ok, so now I spread the love for my fellow bloggers, let's see... how did I do? Well, few weeks back, I played in a $8 single table super satellite to FTOPS #1. I took that down and quite frankly, never played in any other satellite to the FTOPS. So, I was entered into the $55 satellite last night into event #1 and I sneaked into the tournament, coming in 240th (top 243 places won the entry).

As for the FTOPS event itself... I wasn't so successful. I eventually busted out in 952nd place out of the original 4,165 runners. I suck. What more can I say? And I don't say this in a "I'll say I suck so please give me pity" type of way. Early in the tournament, I was doing fine, I think. Now I wasn't giving it the focus it probably deserved because I also had two 2-4NL cash games open and an hour into the FTOPS, the Mookie started. Oh yeah... and I made a guest appearance on the BuddyDank radio. That was a lot of fun. Hopefully, I didn't water down the show too much for all you listeners out there. And thanks to Buddy and Sean (aka InstantTragedy) for letting me come on the show. Again, that was a lot of fun.

Shortly thereafter though, I did close down the cash tables so that I could focus on the tournaments... but now that I went from 4 tables to 2, I decided to look for other bloggers. And I found Hoy and Cmitch so I started railing them. It wasn't till much later when Bayne told me that Jgoat was in as well. And one thing I noticed? I suck in tournaments. Wait, did I say that already? Why do I say that? Watching them, I could tell that they are picking their spots but they are also making moves. Or so I assume. I know Hoy was very active. Cmitch seemed to have timely aggression. Me? None of that. Ok, maybe once in a while but eventually, not enough to keep up with the pace of the escalating blinds and eventually, I go into a double up or go home mode. And no matter who says what, that is NOT a key to success in tournaments. I'm bound to lose a race or get sucked out on eventually and by letting my stack get shorter, I'm handcuffing myself from making plays and pretty much gets to a push and pray mode. So much more to learn for me.

Surprisingly, I was doing well in the Mookie. I don't even know how. Mookie was almost like an afterthought for me. Like a background music. Something to cover up the portion of my laptop screen that doesn't have a poker table up. But next thing I knew, we were down to like 15 players and there I was... in top 6 or something. Eventually (again, this is still all a blur and I don't have the HH with me to go over it right now), we get down to the final table but at this point, I'm more interested in how Hoy and Cmitch were doing in the FTOPS... well, pretty much. But now that we were at the final table, I wanted to win.

So, I started focusing my efforts on the final table of the Mookie and I think I played fairly well. Eventually, the money bubble broke and there were 5 remaining when Don suggested a chop. No one really said anything but when we lost another player, we seemed to have agreed to a chop. Or did we? It was interesting actually.

I don't have the chat log but last night, we saw what was probably the most controversial over the least amount of money at 1:30am-ish... At one point or another, all 4 remaining players (Don, Jordan, Joe Mav (I don't know your blog, if you have a blog AND you read this, please comment so I can link you, and myself) agreed on a 4 way chop when our chip counts were all relatively even. I was ok with this since it was late and winning the Mookie was like $210 or something vs the $130 or so that we get if we chopped. At this point, $80 was close to nothing... not to laugh at $80 but considering I play $2-4NL, that's like a size of one pot... so it really wasn't worth arguing over. So, once I thought we agreed on a chop, I shoved my KQ from the BB when JoeMav in SB raised. Believe it or not, it was more or less a "oh well" shove. I busted out in that hand against JoeMav's AJ. And then an interesting thing happened. I saw in the chat, someone goes "so are we chopping?" HUH? I thought we just agreed on that... and from that point on, a huge discussion ensues about whether they agreed to a chop or not... AFTER I busted.

Personally, I really don't care. If they end up chopping 3 ways, that's fine. If they do it 4 ways, that's fine. Either way, no grudge held here. Believe me. I have no problems with other bloggers and I'm not about to start one for $80 or so. So, any controversy/disagreements aside, gg to Don, Jordan, and JoeMav. Thanks again to Buddy and Sean for having me on their show and good job Lana, Hoy, Goat, and Cmitch. And if anyone said anything to me on the chat box at the tables, sorry I didn't respond. I never saw anything but that doesn't mean that I didn't miss it. I had 4 tables up so when I do that, I can't pay attention to the chat. And if you wanna talk to me, my girly chats are to the right of this screen. Hit me up anytime!

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

For those of you that don't know her, LJ (aka Pvanharibo) is a playa! I had the pleasure of meeting her when I was up in NY and shortly there after, she cashed in the WSOP Ladies Event. I, of course, take most of the credit for it. I mean my good luck must have rubbed off right?

Well, she did it again, this time on FTP's 32k! She was "working from home" today and decided to play some poker... eventually, she turned $8.80 into $4,743. Yeah, that's right... FOUR THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLLLLLLLLLLLARS!!!!

Last night was our regular home game tournament, the PAPT. 10 runners, top 3 gets cash and points for the player of the year award. Our points leader, Tyke, has been in somewhat of a cold streak and hasn't gotten past 36 pts in several weeks. On the other hand, Ramel and I have been on quite a tear - Ramel has won 3 weeks in a row recently, notching a win basically 3 out of the past 4 weeks. In the past 6 weeks that I played in I've come in first or second 5 times.

The funny thing is that about two or three months ago, when Hoy did his "scouting report" on the BBT Top 10 bloggers, one of my friends said that it would be interesting to do something like that for the PAPT crew. So, I went ahead and did it. For all the regulars in the game, I did a fairly detailed write-up on how I thought their game was (or the lack there of). It's amazing what putting thoughts down on paper does. It made me realize how I was playing against this competition so incorrectly.

What do I mean? I know some of the PAPT crew reads this blog (ahem, Tyke) and I think knowing this might benefit them. So, obviously, I'm not gonna put the whole write-up I did for every player but out of our 10 regular runners, there are approximately 3 players that will fall in love with their starting hands. What do I mean? I don't mean that they can't let go of the hand after the flop or the turn if they don't connect. But rather, if they decide that they like their hand, they don't care what the other players do. So, when they raise, I tighten up a little, but when I have a big hand, I go ahead and bump up the pot significantly. In other words, I do the overbet for value early in the hand, preflop, when they are still loving their AQ or something like that.

Then there are couple that I know I can outplay. Those are few and I think the PAPT crew here reading this would know who I am talking about. I mean they just play a weak passive game. I'd say weak tight except when their idea of a good hand is as bad as KTs, I can't say that that's a tight player. But there's a lot of instance where some players will limp then fold to a raise. It's almost a tell. Last night, there was an instance where this one player limped from the cut off. I knew he was weak. I look down and I see K8. Cards don't matter here. I bumped it up to 4.5x the BB (I think it was 2-4 so I bumped it up to 18). Now shockingly, a fairly tight BB called my raise so I didn't like that too much. Flop comes 10-5-x, completely missing me. But again, cards don't matter here. BB checks, CO bets out. Now cutoff isn't stupid so I knew he must have hit the hand. But I also know he plays his connectors weak (that's what weak passive players do). So, I thought at best, he has J-10. So, he bet out 20 into a pot of over 50. So, I raise him another 50 on top. BB looked pained but he folded to my aggression. The said CO? He mulled over it for a while, mumbled something about a kicker, and folded. Don't play weak if you're out of position against me. I WILL punish you for it.

In the end, I amassed a huge chip lead going into heads up battle... against my recent nemesis Ramel. I had a 3 to 1 chip lead but after a few ill timed bluff attempts, we were even in chips. And then the final hand. I felt like I trapped him fairly well. I had AQs. I call from the small blind. Ramel bumps it up another 100 on top (blinds are 15-30), we both have about 700-800 in chips. At that point, I knew he had a moderately good hand. Two face, Ax, or a pair. But again, he'll do that with any ace or any two face. So, I liked my chances and he's one of the guys I peg as one to fall in love with their starting hands. I thought I probably have him crushed. So, I just shoved. He instacalled. I was close but a little off. He had KJ (I was hoping a hand like AJ or KQ - basically anything but two live cards). Well, the river brings the K to an otherwise unimproved board and once again, Ramel takes it. 4th time in 5 weeks. And I, once again, come in 2nd. So sad...

For those of you keeping track, I have updated the points on the side as well.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

I'll leave the nonpoker work tilt content at the bottom so if you're only interested in poker stuff, I don't even know why you read my blog... errrr I mean then you can read the first part and leave. My initial Learn from My Mistakes series seemed very popular (meaning these twodonkeys liked it) so I will keep those going. I don't know at what rate I'll post those but I'll definitely post a new series at least once a week. More if I'm spewing chips, I guess.

But today, I just wanted to give you a quick example of when to overbet for value. If you read Fuel's blog, you know that he always has a classic case of overbetting for value. And this is such a powerful tool in cash games. I think a lot of people tend to not bet enough by trying to squeeze an extra few dollars when they have a monster. But instead, I think it's better if you tend to err on the side of overbetting too often rather than the other way around. Basically, you're costing yourself few dollars for the opportunity to bring in a lot more. Like below.

I know that recently, when I post hand histories, you see me raising with garbage. Just know that I do play hundreds of hands each night and so I don't always raise with garbage hands but it's just a way of mixing it up. If you're only going to play for 30 minutes, I don't recommend raising with garbage like J8s but if you've been at the table for a while, you just need to switch it up once in a while. I think this was an instance where I chipped up nicely with a few decent hands and since I was quiet for a few orbits, I wanted to make sure I seemed relatively active so that when I get another big hand, I will actually get paid off as opposed to everyone folding and me picking up the blinds.

In my opinion, a bet here is a must. A MUST. If he doesn't have anything, I stand to make no money anyways. I'd rather represent a hand like AK with a diamond in my hand instead of slow play a flopped flush. Plus what if another diamond comes? In other words, if he has anything, it's likely that he calls. Like if he had AQ but with a A of diamonds, you know he's almost committed from the beginning. So let's start building the pot! When he called my flop bet, I knew he had to hit a part of this board. I don't know how he hit it but he clearly did.

He check calls the flop and all of a sudden bets out on the turn. I'm now convinced that he hit this board pretty hard. My guess was AQ with A of diamonds, TT with a ten of diamonds (turning a set), 55, 33, or very unlikely but possibly QQ (very unlikely because I would expect a reraise preflop or a checkraise on the flop). If he's in there with a AK with an A of diamond, it's a very loose bet. Maybe a blocking bet. If he's got me beat, I'm gonna pay him off. If my jack high flopped flush is losing to a higher flopped flush, I'm willing to go broke with it. Different if it were 7 high flush or something. But only an Ax or Kx sooted beats me. So, now that I have a pretty good idea that he's got a fairly big hand, this is a prime example of when to overbet for value. If I shove, it's gonna look like I'm trying to get him off his hand with a flush draw.

RecessRampage raises to $597.40, and is all inArtieRufio31 has 15 seconds left to actArtieRufio31 calls $360, and is all inRecessRampage shows [8d Jd]ArtieRufio31 shows [5c 5s] Uncalled bet of $177.40 returned to RecessRampage

*** RIVER *** [3d Qd 5d Tc] [7s] RecessRampage shows a flush, Queen highArtieRufio31 shows three of a kind, FivesRecessRampage wins the pot ($911) with a flush, Queen highArtieRufio31 is sitting out

Fortunately for me, the board didn't pair and I made him put all his money in on a draw to the boat. This is really key here. Instead of raising a little to squeeze more money out of a mediocre hand, I like to start fast and furious to build the pot. And also, to push when the guy still has a chance and may call as opposed to the river when you have a checkmark by your name and maybe harder to extract as much money out of your opponent. Now of course, just like in anything in poker, there is no definite. You have to switch it up. Overbet for value when you sense your opponent has a big hand but do the smaller value bets when you think that he doesn't have a strong hand. And know what you did before to switch it up when a similar situation occurs. Those are all very key.

***Nonpoker content starts here***

So last week, I was on work tilt. Why just last week? I don't really know. Now, I just kinda got over it. I didn't want work to be affecting my personal life and my poker life.

You see, last year, in July, I left my 8 yr stint at a public accounting firm and went to work for a big corporation (our slogan is "What's In Your Wallet?"). Initially, the change was a good one. I was in charge of several big projects that involved transitioning the financial reporting process from the banks we acquired into our central office here in Richmond. (Only a dork CPA would call it "good" I guess... well, I am what I am, unfortunately). With very little financial institution background, this was an interesting learning experience. Having said that, fast forward one year, and now, I'm bored. With those projects complete, I am now in a full time reporting prep mode. And considering I was a manager with teams of staff that I was overseeing in my accounting firm, now I have no one reporting to me directly. Sure, I got staff but we all report to the same supervisor so basically, I'm not in charge of anyone. Which is fine... if the manager was capable. He's a good worker... but a shitty manager and even worse delegator. So, there are times where I am working here till 8pm and some other people leave at 5pm after browsing the internet all day. And not because I'm slow. Because we don't work like a team.

And that, I really miss. But you deal with the cards you're dealt so I was still ok with that. Bored, but ok. Until a small incident basically pushed me over the edge. I am a very sociable person. I like talking to people, mingling, and just generally having a good time. Very often, when I'm around, you'll hear me laughing or talking. That's just how I am.

So, when I greet you, I expect a normal human social contact. What do I mean? Like if I say hello, I expect an hello back. So, one morning, I get to work (and I honestly don't know why it stuck out to me last week or the week before) and I tell my group "good morning." And we have 5 people in our work space. Not one. Not one god damn fucker said "good morning" back. That rubbed me the wrong way. That REALLY pissed me off. Everyone just staring into the monitor working away.

It's gotten better though. Now I have one or two of them saying good morning back to me. I keep trying every morning though. Our manager is a nose to the grindstone type of guy and like his ex-gf (who is a coworker in a different dept) attests, he has ZERO social skills. I can imagine. If you can't say good morning back, you might as well be dead.

And seriously, as stupid as this sounds... that's when I knew that I can't be here. I can't work in an environment where no one responds to basic human interaction. And I think last week, I was on work tilt but now, I've checked out and that's why I'm not on work tilt. I'd love to transfer to another dept cuz I like the company itself. But right now, there aren't too many good positions open so most likely, I'll quit. Not sure what I'll get into next though. I would like to work with people though... instead of zombies. I'm enough of a loner playing virtual poker at night... I gotta get my social interaction somehow.

Monday, August 6, 2007

Wow. Last night was so awesome. I've waited 6+ months for this... For what, you ask? For football to start again! Last night was the meaningless Hall of Fame preseason game between my beloved Steelers and the Saints. And even though I know this doesn't mean anything, it's always nice to start off the season with a win, starters clicking, and to just see the black and gold on the field. I have to say though... Nothing against Mike Tomlin, the new headcoach for the Steelers, but I miss Bill Cowher. It might take me a while to get used to the new headcoach... but then again, if they start winning, maybe it won't.

Don't worry. If you're thinking that I'm gonna recap a meaningless preseason game by talking about the long bomb Roethlisberger tossed to Cedric Wilson or the slant pass to Nate Washington or Najeh Davenport punching into the end zone for the opening score, I won't. :)

But, as fantasy football season is right around the corner, I'm going to go over how I became a Steelers fan. This weekend was the Hall of Fame induction... and I'm sorry to say, I only knew Thurman Thomas and Michael Irvin. The other three, I have no idea who they are. Hell. I don't know too many players before 1994. I'm not your typical Steelers fan that talks about the dynasty in the 70s... because I never saw them play back then. Lynn Swan? Terry Bradshaw? Franco Harris? See, back then, I never followed football. Hell, back then, I didn't know football existed.

I was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. I moved here when I was 18. That was in 1994. I went to an international school in Japan so I grew up with English and Japanese all at the same time. So anyways, I chose a small private college in Richmond, VA (go Spiders) after graduating high school because that was the only school that no one from my high school went. You see, I thought, if I'm going to a different country, I don't want to go where everyone else was going. I wanted to meet new people, make new friends, etc. Being a big football fan, I now regret that I didn't go to a big football school but that is neither here nor there.

So, my first year there, in our dorm, there was this thing for fantasy football. I thought, what better way to get to know more people from my dorm than playing some football! Honestly. I didn't know what fantasy football was. I, at this point, knew what football was so I thought it was gonna be like a flag football thing. Well, I quickly found out that that was not the case and that we were going to be drafting players to create a "fantasy team". Believe me. That's not good when the only player names you've heard of are Joe Montana and Steve Young at this point. I still remember that day fairly vividly. We drew cards to set the draft order and I drew the ace! I got the #1 pick. I wanted to pick Steve Young but since I've only heard his name, I didn't know if he still played or not. So, I saw this magazine that someone else had open, and picked the first name I saw. Jeff George. #2 pick quickly went with Steve Young...

So, was my fantasy team a total debacle? Surprisingly no. You see, I drafted this sleeper, very late... I didn't even know his first name. I saw his name in a magazine and it wasn't crossed off yet.

"Um... Ok, I'll go with B. Foster?"

I knew it must be good when couple of guys behind me said "SHIT!"

Well, it was Barry Foster of the Pittsburgh Steelers who didn't have a monster year or anything but him, along with all the rag tag team that I had scored in opportune times and basically kept me in the hunt (I ended up 3rd place overall). So, each week, I started tuning into the Steelers game (I also had Eric Green, TE). Well, that was the year that the Steelers won 12 games and lost to the the Chargers in the AFC Championship. I think I may have had a few more Steelers because I basically remember thinking that if the Steelers did well, my fantasy team did well. And that's the only reason why I was rooting for the Steelers that turned out to be an awesome team. Ever since then, I've been a devoted, loud mouthed (as my friends can sadly vouch) Steelers fan. So, I might not go waaaaaay back, but I love the Steelers as much as any other fan loves their team.

Oh, and did I mention that I've come a long ways in the fantasy world? I'm in two leagues. In the 3rd year since inception of one of the leagues, I won. In the 2nd year since inception of the other league, I won that. And so currently, I am the defending champion in that league. So bring it! Fantasy football, here it comes!

Do you love poker? Do you wish you can play more or online but wary about some of the new laws you've heard about regarding legislations to curb online gambling? Let me sort out a few things. First of all, it's NOT illegal for you to play online. They only made it illegal for banks to process transactions. Second, you can still use your credit card to fund your online account. So, come one, come all. Use the link on the banner to the right and enter bonus code "pokertachi" for a deposit bonus. Come and join us on the virtual felt!

Saturday, August 4, 2007

I've been trying to accumulate some of the hands that I played poorly in order to highlight my mistakes and share them with you. Hopefully, you may gain something. If not, maybe you could just get a good laugh. But either way, I intend to start a mini series here where I will post some of the hands where I made a mistake and put in my thoughts, where applicable. Oh, and when I say "trying to accumulate", it's not because they are few and far between. I'm just trying to sift through all the bad ones and pick the ones that may actually be beneficial.

Ok, below is an instance where if you have a decent hand, you HAVE TO ISOLATE the short stack all in. Money not won is the same as money lost. In other words, when you have the edge or the better hand, you have to bet and protect it. No way around that. Here's an instance where I totally missed that.

The game is 5 handed, as you can see. Pocket 10s in a 5 handed game is a monster holding and one that is most likely ahead. I might reraise a few times there on the initial raise by imperatorce but that's just a variation. I've been at this table for a little while at this point so they've seen me reraise when in position and not many hands go to showdown so again, that's just me switching it up.

When the short stack goes all in on top, imperatorce just calls. And for some reason, I think I didn't have an option to reraise there. I could be wrong but I think I was forced to call. Like the reraise option wasn't there? I think that's actually some sort of a rule but again, not sure. Please confirm if you know.

*** FLOP *** [6h 7s Js]Imperatorce has 15 seconds left to actImperatorce checksnonthinking sits downRecessRampage checks I'm sure all of you could see what the big blunder here is. My pocket 10s are very good on a jack high flop. This isn't some tournament bubble in a satellite where knocking out one player means anything. This is a cash game. At this point, I need to bet out to isolate the shortstack. I think this is obvious to everyone. But if not, here's why.

If the shortstack has AA, KK, QQ, or JJ, I was already beat before the flop and unless I get lucky, I'm not gonna win the main pot. So, against those hands, I have no chance on this flop. However, there's another player in here and he could have KQ, AK, AQ. If so, I need to bet here to at least protect my hand from those holdings. Again, if I do that, then I wouldn't lose any more money AND I only have to fend off the draw (if I'm ahead) of the guy who is already all in.

Now I have no choice but to fold when he bets. I had the better hand AND better position and somehow I let this happen.

*** RIVER *** [6h 7s Js Qc] [9s]Imperatorce shows two pair, Queens and Nineskdogvet shows Ace King highImperatorce wins the pot ($91.15) with two pair, Queens and Nineskdogvet is sitting out

That's $90 that should be added to my stack but instead, because of my donkey play, I missed out on that. In this instance, I didn't just lose $30. Yeah, that's the actual hit to my bankroll. But the real hit was the $90 that shoulda been there. Again, money not won when you should is the same as money lost. You can't let opportunities like this get away from you.

Friday, August 3, 2007

Before I forget... I'm so bad with pimpin the tourneys... I mean I'm just inconsistent with my reminders for Mookie and MATH, the two blogger tourneys that I usually make a point to donate... errrr play in. So, here it is. The Big Game, hosted by the big man himself. Sunday night at 9:30pm ET. $75 buy-in. Come on everyone. So many ways to win the $75 token if you can't buy in. Easiest, IMO, is to take down the $8+0.70 2 table SNG for a $26 token and then parlaying that into a $75 token via the 2 table 18 person $26 buy-in SNG (top 5 in each gets the token). The next "easiest" is the nightly token frenzy where you can buy in for a mere $14+1 for your chance to win the $75 token. So, let's go get that and play in the biggest buy-in blogger event.

The past few days, I've mentioned that I wasn't into it. For some reason, I just kinda got tired and the work tilt affected the way I played poker... or rather, the way I didn't. I really didn't want to do anything... I preferred mindless activities like playing video games.

Speaking of mindless activities, navigating youtube is always a good mindless activity... check this out from yesterday's x-games. This fall is sick. As is the 720 he completed before that...

I'm not a X-game fan or anything... I'm not against it but I don't watch it with any kind of consistency. But I do know how sick these guys are and the tricks that they can do with their boards, bikes, etc. One summer, my friend and I worked the X-games when they came to Richmond. And I had no idea how high the ramps were and how much air time they get using those ramps. It's very sick. So, that fall was like 50 feet... apparently he walked away from it and had to be talked into going to the hospital... That's one tough kid.

Ok, so enough nonpoker stuff. Can you tell these days that my blog is really starting to be an outlet for me?

So, after I wrote the blog about how www.bigstack.com didn't account for satellites and as such was very inaccurate, I received numerous comments agreeing to that effect. Now, as part of that, KOD gave me a new site. Officialpokerrankings.com. And that site seems to be a lot more accurate. It might still be wrong so I'd love to hear people's comments on that. Well, according to that site, I'm a 4 star tournament player. Sounds good right? Until I tell you that it's not on a normal 5 star scale but rather, it's a 10 star scale...

The only thing I don't like about this site is if you are negative, it doesn't show you how much so for a guy like me, I have no way to actually vouch the accuracy or compare with my PT stats.

But check out how all the other bloggers are doing. Now, it appears more true. Or at least, it's right on with the expectations I have about most of the bloggers I know. No real surprises except once again, KOD distinguishes himself amongst the bloggers as he's listed in the top 250 MTT players according to that site. Seriously... why are there haters out there? Are you jealous of him? Or is he an ass in person? (Chad, I kid, obv)

Oh and one last thing I wanted to throw out there about tournament vs cash. Aside from my point of they are two very different games, I do agree that it's so much harder to be a winner in tournaments than cash games. Everyone could fool themselves into thinking they're not doing so bad by justifying via satellites and all that but in the end, there's only a select few who could truly make money in tournaments, only because of the number of entrants in it. Yeah, everyone might be one big score away from being in the positive but if someone plays 100 tourneys, win 1, and is +$100 net, is that person a winning tournament player? In my book, no. Just cuz you're up at one point doesn't make you a winning player without showing consistency. So, taking a snapshot and saying I'm a winning player is as silly as one of my friends saying in fantasy football that "if the season ended today, I'd be in the playoffs." But based on the blogs, I think we all know who the winningplayasare in tournaments. Those are the guys who could do it night in and night out and show some semblance of consistency in a game that's virtually impossible to be consistent.

I think it's easier to be a winning cash game player but that's not to say that one is easier than the other. I know, I know. You're now thinking that that's self contradictory. It's not that. There are many layers of skill needed in cash games and there's only a select few who could continue to be positive at higher levels. I hear so many people say that they could do better if they were playing $1-2NL instead of $.25/.50NL or 5-10NL instead of 1-2NL. And their justification is that they won't suffer as many bad beats because the players should be better at that level and so their AK doesn't get cracked by K5 on a king high board. What they don't realize is their own leaks in the game and they continue to ignore their leaks by blaming the "donkeys." Believe me, if you can't crush 1-2NL, you can't crush 5-10NL. Playing smaller stakes due to limited bankroll is no excuse for not being a winning player. If you are playing cash and you think that the only reason you are not winning is because you are getting unlucky, you really need to self evaluate and look at your play. You'll be surprised as to who the true donkey is. That's how I feel every time I evaluate my play. And soon, I'll post some of my worst blunders to illustrate AND hopefully, you all can use that to either think about your play or learn from my mistakes.

Once again, thanks for reading this Harry Potter-esque (only from the sheer length of it) post. Have a good weekend and see you at the Big Game!

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Man... what a night. I played in the BBT freeroll for about 20 minutes and that's it... I showed up 10 minutes late and 20 minutes later, I ran my pocket 10's into J-goat's KK. GG me. I really have no excuses except to say that I wasn't feeling it tonight. I went to play basketball as I usually do on Thursdays when I'm healthy and left before 10 so that I could get back at a decent time. Huh? Shower? Hygiene is overrated anyways, no? Women like tough, rugged men... right? Ok, so I'm not all that tough and I guess I'm not rugged either... so I guess I'm just dirty. Well, now I'll be able to go take a shower.

Well, before I do that though, I finally got to check out the site that Don had mentioned on his site. It's www.bigstack.com for those that somehow missed his blog. I obviously went to check it out and like everyone else, checked out mine and some others and were shocked at the results... until I noticed something.

This is not an excuse by any means and I'm not in any way trying to tell you that I'm a decent tournament player... cuz if I were, I would be playing right now... instead of blogging. So, having said that, the site is not entirely accurate. Mainly because when you play a multitable tournament that is a satellite to another tournament, your tournament entry fee is not considered in the amount won. What do I mean? For example, let's say you play in the nightly token frenzy for $14+1. In the tournament description, it says $75 satellite token for the ones I won but net profit for that tournament shows $-15 because I didn't win any cash. So, during the last FTOPS, I won a supersatellite to enter into $216 satellite for the $1060 tournament. I won my entry to the $1060 tournament but it still shows as if I bought in for the full amount of $1060 without any corresponding winnings to net that out. It does part of it right though. So, it shows $0.00 for cost/profit for the $216 satellite that I qualified for. But still shows a $1060 buy in for the actual tournament.

So, after saying all this, what am I trying to prove? Nothing really except the fact that this site is not all that accurate. But, if you haven't gone there yet, this is what it shows for me.

And to show you what I'm talking about in regards to satellites, this is what I mean.

Notice how in the description column, it says "entry to tournament xxxxx" but there's zero in the amount won column and yet -$1060 in the profit column for the tournament that I satellited into? So in other words, it's as if I played in the satellite, didn't win and bought in to the bigger MTT. Believe me. If I'm preaching to you that I'm a tournament donk, I'm not gonna buy into a $1,000 MTT.

Why did I post this? Only because I was curious about how I was doing as well as bunch of others and at first glance when I saw mine, I was like "Holy shit. -$4,205!? That can't be right." And I knew it wasn't right because very recently did I do a piece about how much of a loser I was in MTT during my half year review and that revealed that I lost about half that. So, if I were to accurately paint the picture of how I'm doing in the MTT world, here's my stats from Pokertracker.

Now I've had PT since January of 2006 so this is cumulative stats since then. If I include SNGs, the amount drops (or improves) to ($1,790.90). Still a big loser but not quite as bad as it first appears when you just look up my name on that site. I mean come on.... if you're gonna display stats like that, track it properly. I already admit that I'm a MTT loser... I don't need them painting an even worse picture. :)

Having said all this, now that I know that satellites are considered a loss (sometimes) on that site, you really have to give it up to Chad. I know there are plenty of haters out there but to be able to show such a large positive amount is impressive. And if you consider that my loss per that site was actually double what my actual losses were, you can apply that to him and double his winnings... yeah, that's impressive.